Emotional resilience
‘’Going for a run is a protective factor for the health of your body, emotional resilience is the protective factor for the health of your mind.”
Emotional resilience tools:
- Staying active
- Healthy eating
- Talking to someone
- Breathing exercises
- Listening to music
- Using a Wreck journal
- Sleeping well
- Focusing on positives
We can all feel overwhelmed at times. Stress is not always bad as long as it is manageable. When we are stressed it can impact on how we think, feel, behave – you can change this!
Top tips to support your emotional resilience
- Staying active – go for a brisk ten minute walk, even if it is a couple of laps of the yard during the school day. You could do something more fun like bowling – dig out the old Wii console. Do it in a group – having fun boosts our well-being. Exercise is so good for the body and in turn good for mental health.
- Healthy eating – it is tempting to reach for comfort food when we feel low but healthy food is good for your mood and it is very important to never skip a meal. Lots of sugar can lead to low mood.
- Listening to music – focus on the lyrics and melody of your favourite songs for 10 minutes, concentrate only on them as a form of mindfulness. Finish with an uplifting tune.
- Talking to someone – pop into the resilience lab or go and let your head of year know how you are feeling. Talking to people we trust can help us make sense of our thoughts and feelings, especially if you feel like no-one understands.
- Breathing exercises – this aids total relaxation – imagine you are holding a balloon and it is inflating and deflating in time with your breathing. Or imagine you are watching bubbles float up from the floor, disappearing above your head – if a negative thought pops into your head you can just put it in the bubble and watch it float away. Count down slowly from 10, with each number take on complete breath in haling and exhaling deeply.
- Sleeping well – make sure you are getting at least 8 hours per night, keep off the tablet or phone for at least half an hour before bed-time, have a hot bath and read a book about an hour before bedtime to get a peaceful sleep.
- Using a journal – you can document your thoughts and then rip them up and put them in the bin, or keep hold of them to remind you how far you have come. It might help you notice changes in your mood which could identify a trigger.
- Focusing on positives – out of all the things that have happened today what went well compared to what didn’t – make a list and see which is the longest – don’t forget the positive things we take for granted every day – speaking to friends, nice weather, favourite activities/tv programmes, seeing those you love, spend time with your pets.
